Get the kite you can fly without thinking the easiest.
Choose a wind for it that you can ride your TT but only just go upwind, but can body drag upwind easily. You want to be able to sheet in for power but be able to sheet out and have almost no power... It was a 10m Crossbow for me, which meant the best wind for me was about 15 knots average.
Make sure the wind is not too gusty or Lully.
Onshore wind is doable -- somehow get the foil way the hell upwind of your beach; either get someone who can foil to ride it out, then follow them out on a TT and swap, or get a lift out on a boat. Or learn to body drag and clear the beach -- good thing to learn/figure out if there's too much wind.

The most important thing is whatever you kite you choose, don't be overpowered (violent punishment) and don't be fighting to keep it in the sky -- you've enough to concentrate on, focusing on keeping the board under control.

I dunno about Pete but I put the kite in the water more often now than I did learning to foil. I dropped it once in two hours yesterday, as usual trying to be clever is too little wind

What are optimal wind speeds for my 1st attempts at hydrofoil?
Am I better off with larger(slower) kite or smaller(faster) kite.
I am 165 lbs.
Twin tipper for 10+ yrs and would call myself intermediate.
Directional surf board limited experience. 1 out of 10 jibes and the 1 I make ain`t pretty.
Thanks

Hi Fibbob....do we know each other? I ride Sheboygan a lot and I'm from Madison and we do a ton of foiling here and on the big lake. So much fun.

Don't be too worried about the best winds. That is a hard to find optimal winds here or anywhere for that matter.

Most are finally realizing that your first rides on a foil will actually be on a kite that you can just park and ride. People used to recommend smaller kites for learning. That is not the case until you get better.

With the proper sized kite, you just dive the kite, get up on the board and ride slow actually trying not to foil in the beginning, which means using a kite size that you would use riding a twin tip and even slightly overpowered. You want to be able to just let the kite pull you while you are working on your muscle memory with the foil.

I actually have a bad ass easy training board from Slingshot that has soft top and rails and a short mast that makes learning much easier.

You're more than welcome to try it anytime. SO much fun. We've had a huge acceptance in Madison, Sheboygan and other places with foils the last few years. One you learn how to foil it will open up a lot of cool possibilities.

I'd be glad to help with any trining, etc. You don't need a lot of hours at all, just some proper guidance and TONS of practice to get the muscle memory going.

I'd say no to using longer lines when learning. Longer lines means a smaller kite which means a faster turning kite which could make it harder to learn. I strongly recommend using what riders are familiar with and don't change anything until riding and foiling becomes easier.

12m in 14-16knots. I found the little extra power useful as I could make smaller dives which destabilised me less. Flat water helped massively for me. Anything over 16knots can give short pitch chop locally which adds to the challenge. Made my most progress on the flat water days.

Its just difficult to get past the first stage. Accept it, and realise most people lie about how long it took (or exaggerate how quickly they picked it up) to get up to speed and enjoy the progression.

Agree with Bob regarding line length - use what you are familiar with for the first learning phase.

When you get up and ride more frequent, THEN you should use longer lines a tad smaller kite, so you wont get overpowered.
"Overpowered" on a foil is a nightmare when new, and scary and risky things can happen quite fast.

You will be able to get up on the board and foil just as easy with a smaller kite and longer lines - but wait till you CAN ride a bit up foiling, then use the longer lines 25-27 meter.

When you get better later, you might either keep this length like many freeriders do (me inclusive), or go shorter with bigger kites for either racing or your personal style.